Boiler



May 19, 1936. w. ARMAcosT BOILER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed June 6,1 1954 IBL,

INVENTOR W@ an L @nw H/.m .T QA L, Mm

May 19, 1936- f w. H. ARMAcosT 2,041,388

BOILER Filed June 6, 1934 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY patented May 19, 19.36

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOILER Application June 6, 1934, Serial No. 729,190

11 Claims.

My invention relates to the art of generation of steam and aims to provide a boiler of economical constructi-on and one having ample supply of water to the generating tubes.

An object of my invention also is to improve the details of arrangement of superheater boilers.

A boiler in accordance with my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and in order that my invention, together with its objects and advantages, may be fully and readily understood, I will now describe said illustrated boiler in detail in connection with the drawings, such illustrated boiler having been selected as an exemplication of the invention from a number of possible embodiments thereof. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of a boiler in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevation taken from the left of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation taken from the right of Fig. 1.

The boiler I0 illustrated in the drawings, is of the horizontal inclined Water tube type having a single transverse steam and water drum I2 and two banks I4 and I6 of generating tubes, bank I4 being set above and spaced vertically from bank I6 to provide what is ordinarily known as an interdec'k space I5. At the lower end of bank I4 the generating tubes of such bank are connected into headers Ila and Tb. Headers I'Ia alternate with headers I'Ib` in the direction parallel to the drum I2. Headers IIa, are interrupted irnmediately below the bank I4 whereas headers I'Ib are extended downwardly therefrom for a purpose which will presently appear. At the upper end of bank I4 the generating tubes are connected into headers I8 and the usual circulators I9 are provided for conducting steam and water from the upper ends o1" headers I8 to the drum I 2. Also, the usual downcomers 20 are provided for conducting water from the drum I2 into the upper ends of headers I'Iar and |117. At the lower end of the bank I, part of the generating tubes of such bank are connected into the lower ends of the long headers I'Ib and the remainder of the tubes of bank I6 are connected at their lower ends into short riser headers 22. Headers 22 alternate with the lower ends of headers I'Ib in the direction parallel to the drum I2 and lie in the same vertical planes as headers I'Ia.. A mud drum 24 is connected to the bottoms of all the headers I'Ib and 22. At the upper end of bank I6, the generating tubes of such bank are connected into headers 26 from which steam and Water are conducted through the risers 28 to the upper ends of the headers I8 from which points the steam and water is delivered to drum I2 through the circulators I9. Water for some of the generating tubes in bank I 6 is introduced into the lower ends of the tubes of such bank directly from the downcomer headers I'Ib. Water for the remainder of the tubes of bank I6 enters the lower ends of headers 22 from the mud drum 24 which receives the water in the first place from the downcomer headers I'Ib.

Preferably also, the short riser headers 22 are connected into the bottoms of the headers I8 by generating tubes |619. It will be seen further that boiler I 0 is illustra-ted as being of the threepass type, and I have found it convenient to provide Z-shaped generating tubes 8b which connect at their lower ends into the long headers I'Ib at points somewhat above the level of the tops of short riser headers 22. Tubes |8b` cross the space I5 about at their middlesand connect at their upper ends into the lower ends of headers I8. The tubes |8b can be used conveniently to support the ordinary horizontal and vertical baffle 2|. Tubes Ib, however, are spaced enough above the tubes of bank It and the tubes |6b to provide a convenient space |50. extending between tubes |6b and |8b throughout the main 'n interdeck sections of such tubes which lie the closest together and well adapted for accommodating the lower ends of superheater units 23 which ordinarily are placed in the interdeck space at one side of baille 2|.

Below the bank I6 is a furnace chamber 30. Ordinarily, such furnaces are rectangular and I have shown on the inner faces of the wall of such chamber a water wall composed of generating tubes 32, 32 arranged in sections, one section for each vertical face of the chamber. The generating tubes 32 of the water wall section 34 on the face of chamber 30 beneath drum I2 connect at their lower ends into a header box 36 and receive water from such box. The tubes 32 of the water wall section 38 on the face of chamber 30 opposite section 34 connect at their lower ends into header box 4U so as to receive water therefrom. Water is conducted from box 36 to box 40 by bottom tubes 42 which extend across furnace chamber 38 at its lower end. Box 36 receives its water through nipples 43 from a drum 44 which is supplied by downcomers 46 and 48, downcomers 46 connecting at their upper ends into the bottoms of the short headers Ila. and

the upper ends of downcomers 48 connecting into the drum 24. The generating tubes 32 on the water wall sections 5B, 59 on the two faces of the chamber 36 perpendicular to drum I2 also receive their water from drum 44. At their lower ends the tubes 32 on such walls 56 connect into header boxes one of which is shown at 52, header boxes 52 being connected to the drum 44 by a plurality of connectors 54 which connect into the drum 44 and into the boxes 52 at spaced points along the lengths of such members.

The generating tubes 32 forming section 34 of the water wall connect at their upper ends into a header box 56 and steam and water from the header box 56 is conducted across the upper end of the chamber 30 and delivered into the lower portions of headers 26 by means of generating tubes 58, 58 which lie below the bank I6. At their upper ends, the tubes 32 forming part of the water wall section 38 connect into a header box 60 and steam and water from the header box 60 are delivered into the bottoms of the headers 26 by risers 62. The generating tubes 32 forming water wall sections 56 along the sides of chamber 30 connect at their upper ends into header boxes one of which is shown at 64 and steam and water from the boxes 64 are conducted upwardly by risers 66, 66 which deliver into subheaders 68 shown as lying at a level above that .of the circulators I9. From the subheaders 68 steam and water is conducted to the drum I2 by connectors 'I6 which connect into the drum I2 and into the header 68 at spaced points along the lengths of such members.

Inasmuch as the tubes of the bank I4 are the more remote from the combustion chamber, the rate .of fluid circulation through these tubes is less than through others, as in the bank I6, and less than the capacity of the feed headers I'I'a, I'Ib for the bank I4. Moreover, the downward extension of the headers IIb for feeding tubes of bank I6 (instead of connecting headers for banks I4 and I6 by conventional downcomers of smaller diameter than the headers) further increases the capacity of these headers. Consequently, the excess capacity of the feed headers for the bank I 4 may be availed of for feeding alternate vertical rows of tubes of bank I6 directly through the extended headers I'Ib and the remainder of the bank I 6 from the headers IIb by way of mud drum 24 and the short riser headers 22 of the bank I6. Likewise, without substantially increasing the size of headers Ila, IIb for bank I4, the tubes 32 of the furnace wall sections are fed through the downcomers 46, 48 connected, respectively, to the short headers Ila for the bank I4 and the mud drum 24 associated with the bank I6. As a result, it is possible to avoid the necessity of providing separate downcomers from water drum I2 to the lower bank I6 and to the banks of tubes 32 comprising the wall sections 34, 38, 56, 56 about the furnace chamber.

By connecting the risers 62 from drum 6I) to the upper headers 26 of the bank I6 the provision of additional and long risers extending externally of the boiler proper to water drum I2 is avoided. Furthermore, the risers 62 close in the space between the wall section 38 and the upper end of bank I6 and provide a mounting for a refractory wall at this point thereby avoiding the necessity of providing a separate wall support. Likewise the connection of the upper row of tubes I6b of the bank I6 to the riser header I8 for bank I4 closes in the space between the upper end of this bank and bank I 6 and also provides a Wall support.

In addition, this connection of tubes I6b diverts part of the load of bank I6 to the upper headers 28 for bank I4, thus relieving the riser headers 26 and providing in part for the load imposed thereon by wall sections 34 and 38.

It may be noted that the riser tubes 66 which extend between the header boxes 64 for the side wall sections 56 and the sub-headers 68 are disposed along the sides of the boiler closely adjacent the sides of the tube banks I4, I6 and exposed to the gases of combustion thus increasing the amount of heat absorbed therefrom. Thus in addition to increasing the efficiency of the boiler the absorption of a greater amount of heat from the gases of combustion, makes it possible to decrease the thickness of the refractory walls and the boiler insulation.

It should also be noted that by feeding the wall sections 34, 38, 50, 50 from the headers Ila for bank I4 and the mud-drum 24 associated with bank I6 and by connecting the header boxes 56, 66 for the wall sections 34, 38 into the upper header 26 of bank I6, an amount of piping that would ordinarily be employed for downcomers and risers between these generating tubes and water drum I2 may be eliminated. Consequently, a considerable saving may be attained in the cost of downcomer and riser connections and the insulation therefor. Further, this arrangement by dispensing in great part with the maze of downcomer and riser connections that ordinarily extend externally of the boiler proper between the water drum I2 and such generating tubes permits the boiler to be made more compact in construction inasmuch as most of the downcomers and risers are located within the connes of the boiler proper.

The feeding of alternate vertical rows of tubes of bank I6 from the adjacent extended headers I 'Ib and through short riser headers 22 and mud drum 24, to which headers 22 are connected at their bottoms, eliminates downcomers between headers 22 for bank i6 and the aligned headers of bank I4 such as have been heretofore provided.

This arrangement together with the interruption of the aligned headers Ila for bank I4 immedi ately below the latter provides space intermediate the vextended headers I'i'b and between the headers I'Ia, 22 through which the lower ends of the tubes of the superheater may be extended, with conveniently adjacent support therefor, for connection to the inlet header of the superheater, thereby facilitating the location of this drum exteriorly of the boiler proper as is advantageous. Likewise, the upper ends of the superheater tubes may be extended between and supported adjacent the substantially vertical portions of the upper row of generating tubes I6b that are connected between headers 22 and riser header I8 so that the collecting drum of the superheater may also be located exteriorly of the boiler proper.

Another important advantage arising from this arrangement and the location of baille 2| in the interdeck space I5 with its horizontal portion spaced from bank I6 is that the lower ends of the superheater may be extended beneath the baille 2i and exposed to the gases of combustion so that the heat absorbing surface of the superheater is increased considerably.

What I claim is:

1. A boiler having a steam and water drum, vertically spaced banks of inclined generating tubes, downcomer and riser headers connected to the ends of all the vertical rows of the upper CII one of said banks, alternate ones of said downcomer headers being extended downwardly and connecting to alternate rows of tubes in the lower bank, relatively short riser headers at the lower end of alternate vertical rows of said lower bank, riser headers at the upper ends of the tubes of said lower bank, a mud drum connecting all the headers at the, lower end of said lower bank whereby water from the through headers is supplied to alternate vertical rows of said lower bank through such mud drum to the lower ends of some of said short headers, and means, including riser nipples extending from the upper ends of the upper riser headers of said lower bank, for connecting the tubes of the lower bank to the steam and water drum.

2. A boiler as set forth in claim l and in which the tubes in the top row of the lower of said banks are connected into the bottoms of the headers at the upper ends of the tubes of the top one of said banks.

3. A boiler having a steam and water drum, downcomers for leading water from said drum, said downcomers including relatively long headers and relatively short headers, generating tubes connected to said headers, means for conducting steam and water from said generating tubes back to said steam and water drum, a furnace charnber below said generating tubes, water wall tubes on the inner face of said chamber, and means for supplying said water wall tubes with water comprising downcomer connections leading from the bottom of each of said short downcomer headers.

4. A boiler as set forth in claim 3 together with a mud drum connected along the lower ends of the relatively long downcomer headers, and additional downcomer connections for said water wall leading from said mud drum.

5. A water tube boiler having a pair of vertically spaced banks of inclined generating tubes, a combustion chamber beneath the. lower of said banks, downcomer headers at the lower ends of the tubes of the upper of said banks, certain of said headers extending downward below the lower of said banks and acting as downcomers also to certain of the tubes of such lower bank, a mud drum connected to the lower ends of said headers having the greater downward extension, certain of said headers interrupted at points above the level of the top of said lower bank, riser headers connected to said mud drum and arranged to conduct water therefrom to the remainder of the tubes of said lower banks, water wall generating tubes on the inner face of said combustion chamber, and downcomer means for conducting water from the lower ends of said interrupted headers to the lower ends of said water wall tubes.

6. A boiler having vertically spaced banks of inclined generating tubes; downcomer headers into which said tubes are connected at their lower ends; riser headers into which said tubes are connected at their upper ends, the risers for the lower of said banks being separate and spaced vertically from the risers of the upper bank, said risers being unconnected at their adjacent ends; and a row of generating tubes extending along the upper edge of the lower bank for substantially the entire length thereof to adjacent the riser headers therefor and thence upwardly between said banks to the lower ends of the riser headers of said upper bank.

7. A boiler having a steam and water drum; banks of inclined generating tubes spaced vertically to provide an interdeck space; riser headers connected to the upper ends of the tubes of both of said banks and to said drum; downcomer headers connected to the ends of all the vertical rows of the upper one of said banks, alternate ones of said downcomer headers extending downwardly and connecting to alternate rows of tubes in the lower bank and others of said headers terminating immediately below said upper bank; relatively short riser headers at the lower end of other vertical rows of said lower bank, the upper ends of said short riser headers being spaced from the lower ends of said other downcomer headers of said upper bank; a drum connecting all the headers at the lower end of said lower bank whereby water from said extended headers of said upper bank is supplied to alternate vertical rows of said lower bank through said drum and said short headers; and a superheater comprising tubular elements each having one end thereof projecting from said interdeck space intermediate said extended downcorner headers between said ends of said other headers for said upper bank and said short riser headers for said lower bank.

8. A boiler having a steam and water drum; upper and lower banks of inclined generating tubes spaced vertically to provide an interdeck space; downcomer headers connected to said drum and to the lower ends of alternate rows or" vertical tubes in said upper and lower banks; downcomer headers connected to said drum and to the lower ends of the intermediate vertical rows of tubes in said upper bank, said headers terminating immediately below said upper bank; short riser headers connected to the lower ends of said rst mentioned downcomer headers and the lower ends of the intermediate vertical rows of tubes in said lower bank, said short riser headers being spaced from the downcomer headers that are ccnnected to the intermediate vertical rows of tubes in said upper bank; riser headers connected to said drum and to the, upper ends of the tubes of said banks, the riser headers for said lower bank being separate and spaced from the riser headers of said upper bank; a row of tubes extending from headers connected to the lower end of tubes of said lower bank along the upper edge of said bank '1- to adjacent the riser headers therefor and thence upwardly between said banks to the lower end of the riser headers for the upper bank; and a superheater comprising tubular elements each having one end thereof projecting from said interdeck space between the short risers at the lower end of said lower bank and the downcomers connected to intermediate rows of tubes of said upper bank and having their other ends projecting from said interdeck space between upwardly extending por..

tions of said row of tubes along the upper edge of said lower bank.

9. In a boiler having a steam and water drum, and upper and lower banks of inclined generating tubes spaced vertically to provide an interdeck space in which the heat absorbing elements of a superheater are located at one side of a baffle including an upper portion extending through the upper bank and a lower portion extending along part of the lengths or" the tubes of the lower bank; headers connected to the upper and lower ends of the tubes of both banks, certain of the lower headers for one bank extending beyond the end of said bank and other adjacent lower headers terminating short of the corresponding ends of said certain headers to provide passages adjacent the latter between the ends of said other headers and the corresponding headers of the other bank through which end portions of said superheater units -extend for connection to a header located exteriorly of said interdeck space; and. means connecting all said headers to said steam and water drum.

l0. In a boiler having a steam and water drum and upper and lower banks of inclined generating tubes spaced vertically to provide an interdeck space in which the heat absorbing elements of a superheater are located at one side of a bafe including an upper portion extending through the upper bank and a lower portion extending along part of the lengths of the tubes of the lower bank; downcomer headers connected to the lower ends of the tubes of said upper bank, certain of said headers ext-ending also along the lower ends of tubes of the low-er bank and connected thereto while others of said headers terminate at a level somewhat below said upper bank and above the corresponding headers of the lower bank to provide passages adjacent said certain headers through which end portions of said superheater units project for connection to a header located exteriorly of said interdeck space; and means connecting all said headers to the steam and water drum of the boiler.

l1. In a boiler having a steam and water drum, and upper and lower banks of inclined generating tubes spaced vertically to provide an interdeck space in which the heat absorbing elements of a superheater are located at one side of a bafile including an upper portion extending through the upper bank and a lower portion extending along part of the lengths of the tubes of the lower bank; headers connected to the upper and lower ends of the tubes of both banks, certain of the lower headers for one bank extending beyond the end of said bank and other adjacent lower headers terminating short of the corresponding ends of said certain headers to provide passages adjacent the latter between the ends of said other headers and the corresponding headers of the other bank through which end portions of said superheater units extend for connection to a header located exteriorly of said interdeck space; Z tubes each connected at one end to upper headers of said upper bank and extending along the upper and lower portions of the baiiie to support the latter and having the ends thereof that ex tend along the lower portion of the baille connected into said certain headers at points above the upper row of tubes of the lower bank to provide a space between said lower portion of the baiile and the said upper row of tubes for receiving the end portions of the superheater units that project through said passages for connection to said superheater header; and means connecting all said headers to the steam and water drum of the boiler.

WILBUR H. ARMACOST. 

